Chakra Basics

"Muladhara chakra (2) is the seat of Kundalini energy"

On this page I gathered all the information about the seven main human chakras that you need to know for a basic understanding of their functionality.
You'll also find at the bottom some additional tools that can be of help to you.

This chakra is often represented as a cone of energy starting at the base of the spine and going downward and then slight bent up.

Role of the Root Chakra:
The first chakra is associated with the following functions or behavioral characteristics:

Security, safety
Survival
Basic needs (food, sleep, shelter, self-preservation, etc.)
Physicality, physical identity and aspects of self
Grounding
Support and foundation for living our lives

The root chakra provides the foundation on which we build our life. It supports us in growing and feeling safe into exploring all the aspects of life. It is related to our feeling of safety and security, whether it’s physical or regarding our bodily needs or metaphorical regarding housing and financial safety. To sum it up, the first chakra questions are around the idea of survival and safety. The root chakra is where we ground ourselves into the earth and anchor our energy into the manifest world.

Imbalanced Root Chakra:
At the emotional level, the deficiencies or imbalance in the first chakra are related to:Excessive negativity, cynicism

Eating disorders
Greed, avarice
Illusion
Excessive feeling of insecurity, living on survival mode constantly

For a person who has imbalance in the first chakra, it might be hard to feel safe in the world and everything looks like a potential risk. The desire for security dominates and can translate into concerns over the job situation, physical safety, shelter, health. A blocked root chakra may turn into behaviors ruled mainly by fear.
On the same line, when the root chakra is overactive, fear might turn into greed and paranoia, which are extreme forms of manifestation of imbalance in the first chakra. Issues with control over food intake and diet are related to it.

Other noteworthy locations described, expand its location to the genital area, especially at the level of ovaries for women and the testicles for men.

Role of the Sacral Chakra:
The sacral chakra is associated with the following psychological and behavioral functions:

Emotions, feelings
Relationships, relating
Expression of sexuality, sensual pleasure
Feeling the outer and inner worlds
Creativity
Fantasies

The sacral chakra is associated with the realm of emotions. It’s the center of our feelings and sensations.

It’s particularly active in our sexuality and the expression of our sensual and sexual desires.
Motivated by pleasure, it’s the driving force for the enjoyment of life through the senses, whether it’s auditory, through taste, touch, or sight. Opening your sacral chakra allows you to “feel” the world around and in us. As such, it’s an important chakra at the foundation of our feeling of well-being.
The second chakra is instrumental in developing flexibility in our life. Associated with the water element, it’s characterized by movement and flow in our emotions and thoughts. It supports personal expansion and the formation of identity through relating to others and to the world.

Imbalanced Sacral Chakra:
When the sacral chakra is balanced, the relationship with the world and other people is centered around nurturing, pleasure, harmonious exchange.
Imbalance in the sacral chakra can manifest as:

Dependency, co-dependency with other people or a substance that grants you easy access to pleasure
Being ruled by your emotions
The opposite: Feeling numb, out of touch with yourself and how you feel
Overindulgence in fantasies, sexual obsessions
Or the opposite: Lack of sexual desire or satisfaction
Feeling stuck in a particular feeling or mood

Some traditions place it more loosely in the navel area.

Role of the Solar Plexus Chakra:
The Solar Plexus chakra is associated with the following psychological and behavioral functions:

Expression of will
Intellectual abilities
The “accounting mind” that categorizes everything, assesses the pluses and minuses in life
Personal power

Ability to establish ideas and plans into reality
At higher levels, it conveys wisdom

The main function of this energy center is to provide actual momentum to move forward and realize personal desires and intentions in the world. It plays a fundamental role in the development of personal power. It feeds one’s direction in life and the actions taken in order to reach your goals. It influences preoccupations about social status and self-image.

Imbalanced Solar Plexus Chakra:
When the Solar Plexus chakra is balanced, you may:

Be assertive
Exert your will in a way that leads to the expected results somewhat effortlessly
Have harmonious relationships with your surrounding

Imbalances in the third chakra can manifest as:

Excessive control and authority over your environment and people
Or the opposite in case of deficiency or blocked energy: Feeling of helplessness, irresponsibility
Being obsessed with minute details, seeing life through a filter of plus and minuses while losing sight of the whole picture
Being manipulative
Misusing your power
Lack of clear direction, lack of purpose or ambition
Making plans or having a lot of ideas without finding efficient ways to realize them

As the fourth energy center, it’s important to remember that it is multidimensional and is energetically represented with a front going through the center of the chest, and a back going through the spine between the shoulder blades.
Because of its location, the heart chakra is associated to the cardiac system and the lungs. These organs are interdependent and rely on air and breathing to function properly. The gland associated with the heart chakra is the thymus, which is in charge of regulating the immune system.

Role of the Heart Chakra:
The Heart chakra is associated with the following psychological and behavioral characteristics:

Capacity to love
Integration, bridge between earthly and spiritual aspirations
Transcending personal identity and limitations of the ego
Experience of unconditional love and connection with all
Heart-centered discernment
Appreciation of beauty in all things
Experiencing deep and meaningful relationships

The fourth chakra connects the lower and upper chakras. In other words, the heart chakra acts as a center of integration of earthly matters and higher aspirations. Far from seeing these energies as separate, the experience of the heart integrates them effortlessly and harmoniously.
The Heart chakra is all about connecting and relating. The emphasis here is on love, giving and receiving, and how open we are in relationships. Love is the energy that helps transfigure emotions and experiences. It’s an essential element in any relationship, whether it’s is with others or oneself.
Love experienced through the fourth chakra is not just about romance, but about going beyond the limitations of the ego and personal preoccupations to open up more fully to compassion and acceptance of all that is, as it is.

When we live from our heart and our heart energy is opened and balanced, we can see clearly and position ourselves in any situation, no matter how challenging it is, with discernment and compassion.
The heart chakra is also a center through which we experience beauty in life. Seeing the world through a balanced fourth chakra is being in a state of openness and acceptance that brings us in touch with our world and ourselves in profound and fulfilling ways.

Imbalanced Heart Chakra:
The heart chakra can become imbalanced as a result of life experiences that have a strong emotional charge, physical ailments, or significant changes in your environment. It may manifests as a blockage in the energy flow or, on the contrary, a tendency to become overactive or have an excess of energy.
You can see the following signs of imbalance in the heart chakra :

Being overly defensive
Feeling closed down
Jealousy; fear of intimacy
Codependency, relying on other’s approval and attention, trying to please at all cost
Always putting oneself in the role of the savior or the rescuer; or on the contrary, falling into victimization
Excessive isolation, being recluse, antisocial
Holding grudges, not being to forgive

At the physical level, it can manifest as:

Respiratory ailments, such as lung infection, bronchitis
Circulatory and heart-related issues

When the energy in your fourth chakra is blocked or hindered, you may experience what is sometimes referred to as heart chakra pain.

The Throat chakra is associated to the pharyngeal and brachial plexi and is connected to the mouth, jaws, tongue, pharynx and palate. It’s is also linked to the shoulders and the neck. The gland associated with the fifth chakra is the thyroid, which regulates the processing of energy in the body through temperature, growth, and in large parts, metabolism.

Role of the Throat Chakra:
The Throat chakra is associated with the following psychological and behavioral characteristics:

Expression, in particular ability to express your truth, to speak out
Communication, whether it’s verbal or non-verbal, external or internal
Connection with the etheric realm, the more subtle realms of spirit and intuitive abilities
Propensity to create, projecting ideas and blueprints into reality
Realizing your vocation, purpose
Good sense of timing

The Throat chakra is about the expression of yourself: Your truth, purpose in life, creativity. Note that this chakra has a natural connection with the second chakra or sacral chakra, center of emotions and creativity as well.
The throat chakra’s emphasis is on expressing and projecting the creativity into the world according to its perfect form or authenticity.
Another function of the throat chakra is to connect you to spirit. Because of its location, it’s often seen as the “bottleneck” of the movement of energy in the body. It sits just before the upper chakras of the head. Opening the throat chakra can greatly help align your vision with reality and release pressure that may affect the heart chakra that is located just below.

The throat chakra is associated with the etheric body, which is said to hold the blueprint or perfect template of the other dimensions of the body. It’s an important reference point to align the energy through the whole chakra system.

Imbalanced Throat Chakra:
A blocked throat chakra can contribute to feelings of insecurity, timidity, and introversion. On the other end of the spectrum, an overactive throat chakra may also lead to gossiping, nonstop talking, and being verbally aggressive or mean. It can seem as though the filter between the discourse you have in your mind and what comes out of your mouth is not working, or missing entirely.
When the throat chakra has an imbalance, it can manifest as:

Lack of control over one’s speech; speaking too much or inappropriately;
Not being able to listen to others
Excessive fear of speaking
Small, imperceptible voice
Not being able to keep secrets, to keep your word
Telling lies
On the opposite side, a closed throat chakra might manifest as excessive secretiveness or shyness
Lack of connection with a vocation or purpose in life

It can also be described as being located behind the eyes in the middle of the head. Note that secondary chakras run along the mid-line of the forehead, but the third eye chakra is typically located lower.
The Third eye chakra is associated to the pineal gland in charge of regulating biorhythms, including sleep and wake time. It’s a gland located in the brain that is a center of attention because of its relationship with the perception and effect of light and altered or “mystical” states of consciousness. It’s positioned close to the optical nerves, and as such, sensitive to visual stimulation and changes in lighting.

Role of the Third Eye Chakra:
The third eye chakra is associated with the following psychological and behavioral characteristics:

Vision
Intuition
Perception of subtle dimensions and movements of energy
Psychic abilities related to clairvoyance and clairaudience especially
Access to mystical states, illumination
Connection to wisdom, insight
Motivates inspiration and creativity

The third eye chakra is an instrument to perceive the more subtle qualities of reality. It goes beyond the more physical senses into the realm of subtle energies. Awakening your third eye allows you to open up to an intuitive sensibility and inner perception.

Because it connects us with a different way of seeing and perceiving, the third eye chakra’s images are often hard to describe verbally. It puts us in touch with the ineffable and the intangible more closely. Third eye visions are also often more subtle than regular visions: They may appear a bit “blurry”, ghost-like, cloudy, or dream-like. Sometimes however, the inner visions might be clear like a movie playing in front of your eyes.

Sustaining awareness of third eye chakra energy might require focus and the ability to relax into a different way of seeing. When we focus our mind and consciousness, we can see beyond the distractions and illusions that stand before us and have more insight to live and create more deeply aligned with our highest good.

The third eye chakra is associated with the archetypal dimensions, as well as the realm of spirits

Imbalanced Third Eye Chakra:
When the Third eye chakra has an imbalance, it can manifest as:

Feeling stuck in the daily grind without being able to look beyond your problems and set a guiding vision for yourself
Overactive third chakra without support from the rest of the chakra system may manifest as fantasies that appear more real than reality, indulgence in psychic fantasies and illusions
Not being able to establish a vision for oneself and realize it
Rejection of everything spiritual or beyond the usual
Not being able to see the greater picture
Lack of clarity

The hypothalamus and pituitary gland work in pair to regulate the endocrine system. Because of its location, the crown chakra is closely associated with the brain and the whole nervous system.
Note that energetically, the seventh chakra has a connection with the first chakra, as they both are at the extremities of the chakra system.

Role of the Crown Chakra:
The crown chakra is associated with the following psychological and behavioral characteristics:

Consciousness
Awareness of higher consciousness, wisdom, of what is sacred
Connection with the formless, the limitless
Realization, liberation from limiting patterns
Communion with higher states of consciousness, with
Ecstasy, bliss
Presence

The crown chakra is associated with the transcendence of our limitations, whether they are personal or bound to space and time. It is where the paradox becomes norm, where seemingly opposites are one. The quality of awareness that comes with the crown chakra is universal, transcendent.
As we are immersed in the energy of the crown chakra, we feel a state of blissful union with all that is, of spiritual ecstasy. This chakra allows access to the up-most clarity and enlightened wisdom.
Some describe this chakra as the gateway to the cosmic self or the divine self, to universal consciousness. It’s linked to the infinite, the universal.

Imbalanced Crown Chakra:
When the Crown chakra has an imbalance, it can manifest as:

Being disconnected to spirit, constant cynicism regarding what is sacred
On the opposite side, an overactive crown chakra could manifest as a disconnection with the body
Living in your head, being disconnected from your body and earthly matters
Obsessive attachment to spiritual matters
Closed-mindedness

What causes the blockages in the seven Chakras?

The causes could be memories buried deep within the subconscious mind from childhood trauma, abuse, a learned restrictive belief system, emotional injuries that haven’t been forgiven or just lack of attention can cause a chakra to shut down. Tension builds up at one of the chakras from repeated denial, guilt, repression and unfelt emotions. Eventually, everything is affected from posture, metabolism, breathing, and emotional state. Disease in the body is caused by chronically repeated blocked pranic energy.

These seven chakras hold all the good and bad thoughts, deeds, and actions you’ve committed in all of your souls lifetimes here on earth. It’s the repression of emotions that causes pain, suffering, and disease.

"Accepting your rejected feelings...feeling them deeply and forgiving them
are the keys to healing your soul and dis-ease"

Tools to balance and boost your chakras:

Get access to guided meditations that help reactivate, energize and stimulate the the flow of energy from and through your different chakras: click here